More than 20% of adult broadband users who stream video from an online subscription service, such as Netflix, access the services using the account name and password of someone who does not reside in the same household.
As a direct result, content providers are losing substantial revenue by not enforcing more restrictive authentication procedures; Netflix is estimated to lose at least $2.3 billion, Amazon Prime video $540 million and Hulu $480 million in revenue annually due to subscribers sharing their passwords with friends and family.
Netflix executives claim they are happy for customers to share logins. However, for more niche and emerging OTT streaming services, such as those for individual football clubs or showcasing content from a specific film genre, password-sharing presents a make-or-break financial problem. Jill Rosengard Hill, Executive President at media research firm Magid, told CNBC: “It’s really hurting the business model and monetization of these premium high value services.”
However, the problem isn’t restricted to video OTT; publishers are also wrestling with the effects of password-sharing. One way in which some publishers successfully prevent excessive password-sharing is by limiting access by device. The Wall Street Journal, for example, enables digital subscribers to access content for up to five different devices, which can be amended by the customer at any stage.
Akin to this solution, Device Management in Subscription Management offers the ability to tackle the negative effects of password-sharing by giving media organizations the ability to tailor the management of devices on a per customer basis within their Subscription Management subscriber and billing management platform. Having this functionality under one roof means media organizations won’t require integration from an external vendor.
The typical approach to managing devices is simply to limit the number of device slots available against a subscription. Device Management in Subscription Management not only provides media organizations with the tools to limit devices, but additional configuration to manage device concurrency and device change limitations. This includes the configuration of the number of device slots available per account, the amount of device changes permitted in certain time periods and finally, the number of devices able to access content from one account at any given time.
Device Management presents opportunities for operational efficiencies, churn reduction and value-added upselling for media subscriptions. For example; for a higher monthly fee, subscribers can upgrade from two to five devices or increase accessibility for multiple people residing at the same address with a bundle, similar to Spotify’s Family Plan.
Empower Customer Support Agents to view and edit an account’s device management policy by, for example, rewarding those subscribers predicted to churn with additional device slots, or go a step further and reduce operational overheads by enabling subscribers to view and manage their own device policies in Subscription Management’s self-care system, powered by Subscription Management’s SDK.
Paul Johnson, CEO and Co-Founder, MPP Global, said: “Subscription Management’s new Device Management functionality offers our clients more control of their content accessibility than ever before, with the scope to tailor the management of devices on a per customer basis. The operational efficiencies this presents to the broadcast and OTT industry can’t be underplayed, and we are looking forward to seeing the positive results this generates for our clients.”
To see Device Management in action, request a demo below.